Seminar 5
What is the role of information sharing in shaping new possibilities for the organisation and delivery of welfare services?
29th March 2010, Courtyard room, Park House, University of Birmingham
Convenor: Rob Wilson, Newcastle University
The fifth seminar in the series was about the current and future information challenges facing Third Sector Organisations (TSOs). The mainstreaming of TSOs in public services has led to an explosion of information sharing with public agencies. It has also produced contentious information management and information security issues. For some, all this points to a need for the sector to embrace the digital economy. Others are sceptical about the advantages of the collection and use of information, seeing it variously as a bureaucratic overhead, a trend promoting reductions in diversity within the sector, and a threat to client consent and confidentiality. Information sharing, nevertheless, continues to be important because it encompasses activities that cut across boundaries of services, organisations, and governance. This seminar brought university based researchers into dialogue with practitioners concerned with information - and information technologies - from the public, third and private sectors.
After a brief introduction from Rob Wilson and Sue Baines, Peter Alcock, Director of TSRC, welcomed participants to Birmingham University and talked about the work of the centre.
James Conford, University of East Anglia, led an 'icebreaker' activity to set the scene for thinking about inter-professional working as inter-cultural contact
'Information | Communication | Translation'
Three presentations offered insights from current research and practice on aspects of information, cross sector working, services and governance
- Pat Ellison, Barnardos: ‘Reflections on being a Pathfinder for ContactPoint’.
(View presentation) - Martyn Croft, The Salvation Army: ‘Information security in social care provision’.
(View presentation) - Mike Martin and Paul Richter, Newcastle University: ‘Governing information between sectors: Insights and provocations from a study of Information Governance in the North East’.
(View presentation)
Mike Martin and Paul Richter led a group task entitled ‘Helping Mary’. The task was based on a scenario entitled ‘Mary’s story’. (View the scenario)
- ‘Mary’s Story: Responding to Mary’s information governance interests’, Paul Richter
(View presentation) - ‘How do we think about records?’
(View presentation)
The event was rounded off with a panel session entitled ‘Next steps in a Digital Economy of Welfare Service Provision – key learning points, ideas, knowledge gaps and action plans’. The invited panel of leading practitioners and researchers reflected on the day, followed by open discussion.
Panel members:
- Eleanor Burt, University of St Andrew’s
- Martin Ferguson, SoCITM (the association for ICT professionals in the Public and Third Sectors)
- Penny Hill, NHS Information Centre
- Pete Alcock, TSRC, University of Birmingham
